A medical expert, Professor Babatunde Olofinbiyi has said nurses and doctors were more guilty of engaging in female genital mutilation than traditional birth attendants.
This was disclosed in Ado Ekiti on Wednesday during the delayed celebration of international day of zero tolerance against Female Genital mutilation, organised by the state Ministry of Health in conjunction with the office of the Governor’s wife.
He said traditional birth attendants and local practitioners accounted for just 25% of those involved in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) canvassed education of the girl child. 
The Chief Medical Director, Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital Ado Ekiti, Prof Kayode Olabanji said the state sexual assault referral centre located within the facility had attended to 15 victims of gender based violence in the last 18 months.
Olabanji stated that the figure which comprised 110 rape cases and others including intimate partners, violence and victims of female genital mutilation. “We should increase sensitisation to end menace,” he said.
The CMD said the fact that FGM victims presented themselves because of complications showed that the practice was still on.
In his lecture, he said, “FGM is a monster; an old traditional practice, which is being ‘medicalised’, but with a dint of hard work, we will be able to overcome it. Fifty per cent of those who still carry out FGM are nurses, while five per cent of the perpetrators are medical doctors.We have a long way to go. To win this battle, it has to start from within the healthcare practitioners. We have to fight the resistance from within.” He said.
The commissioner for health, Dr oyebanji Filani and his woman affair counterpart, Alhaja Maryam Ogunlade said all hands must be on deck to bring the FGM practice to zero in the state in line with the theme of the programme ‘Accelerating investment to end FGM.”
